Hospital staff facing violence, abuse and harrassment at work

Fears have been raised over the safety of workers at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust after 188 violent assaults in 2018, up from 159 the previous year.

The incidents caused physical injuries on 169 occasions, although none were said to be serious, said a report to the trust’s board meeting yesterday.

Simon Neville, the trust’s director of strategy and planning, said: “All our staff should be able to come to work without fear of violence, abuse or harassment.

“Sadly, a minority of patients and service-users are abusive or violent towards our staff. This is absolutely unacceptable and we are committed to dealing with this problem.

“We have a zero tolerance stance towards violence and there has been an increase in the numbers of offenders being prosecuted over the last few years.”

Latest NHS-wide figures show 15 per cent of staff have experienced violence from patients, relatives or the public.

At Leeds Teaching Hospitals there were 355 assaults during 2018, up from 266 in 2017, including physical, non-physical and mental health-related incidents.

Both physical and non-physical assaults rose by 25 per cent.

Mental health-related assaults more than doubled, from 40 in 2017 to 83 last year.

RCN regional director Glenn Turp said: “It is distressing to see that these figures are increasing at such a rate.”

Calla body cameras are being used in NHS Trusts across the country to help protect staff as well as improve patient safety and care. The cameras are light, worn on a uniform and switched on when a situation arises.

The front facing screen shows people what is being recorded in real time, which acts a deterrent whilst being open and transparent about what is being recorded.